30/03/2026
In March 2008 I was working 12 hr nightshifts in a winery in north of the South Island of New Zealand. 7pm-7am, followed by a morning beer as the winery was owned by Lion Nathan.
We did 3 weeks solid without a day off from when I arrived.
It was brutal.
We had a great team though, 12 of us living in the same house on site, and throughout that experience I discovered this album by Tiki Taane.
Being a forceful Leo adverse to heavy metal, I often put myself as shift DJ.
Tangaroa/God of the sea is the second song on the album, with the first one being the sound of a conch horn with the song Whakapuaki which means 'Awakening' https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=moA58iV0OQQ
I remember how eerie it was to hear the sound of the blown conch shell throughout the winery in the darkness, with the spoken acknowledgement and blessing in Maori, followed by the power of this song. With the mist rolling in over the vineyards pre dawn, it gave me chills and hit me straight in the heart.
The power of the land waking me up, at a time I was supposed to be asleep (literally).
Watching this video is so powerful, the opposing forces that pull us in different directions. The city lifestyle and the Marae/family/culture.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hLRYD4Akksw&list=RDhLRYD4Akksw&start_radio=1
For many of us without recent ancestors connected to Indigenous cultures we might feel lost, the fragmented threads are hard to put back together, but if we listen inside we can hear the pull of connection back to ourselves, family, meaningful relationships, culture and the Earth and her beings.
This is the time to follow that call, to go to ground back to ourselves.
Find it inside, and ask questions about values and what's important.
